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Despite the fire having been brought under control within 20 minutes, the airport was forced to re-screen all passengers through security after evacuating many into the departure lounge.

The bus was "completely destroyed" by the fire

Furious passengers took to social media to vent at the airport after it announced at 8pm that it would be shutting down all flights until midnight — despite earlier announcing that they would be “returning to normal operations”.

Several complained of a lack of information and unorganised response from airport staff as crowds packed into the terminal.

One passenger labelled it “an utter shambles” while others complained of “third world” conditions and demanded to know if they would be offered compensation.

Meanwhile some passengers who had already boarded their flights reported that they were also made to disembark and go back through security.

Responding to the comments, a spokesman for Stansted Airport insisted that they had followed the proper procedure, and that information was being given to passengers in what was a “difficult” and “fast moving” situation.

He said: “The process was arranged in line with the procedures not only from us but the fire service too.

Crowds packed into the terminal during the ensuing chaos (Image: @VASILIKIKAF)

“It was a very fluid situation and the first priority was to evacuate people to a safe distance away as it was unknown at that stage what the cause of the fire was.

“However, after that it meant that passengers were on the wrong side of security.

“While it was not perfect, in terms of making the priority people's safety that was achieved and there were no injuries.

“There was a lot of people there and information was being provided but people in the heat of the moment may not have heard the tannoy announcements while they were looking for specific information about their flights.

“The airlines had to make their decisions as to whether cancel their flights in what was a difficult situation.”

In a statement this morning, Stansted said: “The airport was alerted to a major fire on a transfer bus outside the entrance to the terminal building at 4.20pm on Friday.

“The fire was caused by an electrical fault on the bus and was brought under control within 20 minutes by the emergency services.

“Passengers were quickly evacuated away from the fire and there were no reported injuries.